Simulating rainfall runoff and assessing low impact development (LID) facilities in sponge airport.

Area of Science:

• Environmental Engineering
• Urban Hydrology
• Sustainable Infrastructure

Background:

• Extreme weather events exacerbate airport flooding, disrupting operations.
• Airport infrastructure is vulnerable to waterlogging, necessitating resilient design.
• Low Impact Development (LID) strategies are crucial for managing urban stormwater runoff.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of green roofs and vegetative swales in mitigating airport flooding.
• To analyze the impact of LID facilities on overflow junction water depth and total inflow.
• To assess performance across various rainfall return periods (2, 5, 20, and 50 years).

Main Methods:

• Simulation scenarios were developed to model airport hydrology.
• The study focused on two key LID facilities: green roofs and vegetative swales.
• Performance was measured by changes in water depth and total inflow under different rainfall conditions.

Main Results:

• Vegetative swales significantly reduced overflow junction water depth (25-52%) compared to green roofs.
• Green roofs showed limited effectiveness in reducing water depth.
• Total inflow reduction varied by rainfall frequency, with higher rates (16.85-22.17%) for 2-20 year return periods and lower rates (2.26%) for 50-year events.

Conclusions:

• Vegetative swales are more effective than green roofs for reducing airport flood water depth.
• LID facilities provide substantial inflow reduction for frequent rainfall but are less effective for extreme, low-frequency events.
• Findings offer guidance for designing resilient 'sponge airports' using LID.